FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE DERBYSHIRE ASSOCIATION FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE DERBYSHIRE ASSOCIATION ...a 6 mile car drive starting at Whatstandwell and visiting Holloway, Lea, Dethick, Lea Bridge and Cromford. HERITAGE CAR TRAIL The six mile route starts from the A6 at Whatstandwell and goes via Holloway, Lea, Dethick and Lea Bridge to rejoin the A6 at Cromford. This leaflet sets out to add interest to a short drive through some of the beautiful landscape and villages of the Derwent Valley, much of it lying within the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. Parking can be difficult on the narrow streets and lanes so drivers are asked to take great care not to create danger or obstruct access to houses and farms and other commercial premises. SEE OVER FOR ROUTE AND DIRECTIONS... Florence Nightingale Heritage Car Trail 50p Printed August 2010 See companion leaflet ‘HERITAGE WALK TRAILS’ which can be used in conjunction with this guide. Florence Nightingale was born on May 12th 1820 in the city whose name she was given. Her parents, Fanny and William, had spent the last two years travelling in Europe but in 1821 they returned to England. Florence’s father was born William Edward Shore and became Nightingale when he inherited a considerable estate from his great uncle, Peter Nightingale ll. The family fortune had been built up in the eighteenth century, started by Thomas Nightingale and added to by his son Peter l. In addition to extensive lead and mineral rights, they owned land and property in Lea, including Lea Hall and the Lea smelting works. Peter ll founded Lea Mills and the hat factory. It was natural that when the Nightingales decided to settle in England they should come to Derbyshire and Lea Hurst was built. However, almost immediately Florence’s mother, Fanny, had decided it was inadequate. She found it cold, too far from the social life of London and much too small. Florence herself once told friends, ‘‘It has only 15 bedrooms.’’ They acquired another residence at Embley Park in Hampshire and Lea Hurst was used during the summer. COMMITMENT TO NURSING Nevertheless, it was during her visits to Lea Hurst that Florence’s commitment to nursing gradually took shape. From a very early age she had been dissatisfied with the empty social life that her mother and sister so much enjoyed and in February 1837 she wrote in her private notes, ‘‘God spoke to me and called me to His service.’’ It was only several years later that she realised what that service was to be, but soon she was spending much of her time visiting the poor and sick in their cottages in Holloway. In 1843 when the family was due to return to Embley she begged to remain but her mother would not hear of it. Two years later she was allowed to nurse her grandmother and shortly afterwards she looked after her old nurse through her last illness. By now Florence knew where her vocation lay but her parents were horrified. Eventually, after many angry and hysterical scenes, Florence’s mother was prepared to consider Cromford Bridge House becoming a nursing home. It had recently become empty after the death of Florence’s Great-Aunt Evans, whom she had also nursed. But Florence was not to be fobbed off in this way. She now spent all the time she could studying everything that had been written on nursing and she was also able to visit a nursing institution in Kaiserswerth in Germany. Finally in 1853, despite continuing opposition from her family, she was appointed to manage the Institution for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen in Distressed Circumstances in London. CRIMEA WAR A year later war had started in the Crimea and horrific accounts of the conditions were published in The Times. The Secretary of War wrote inviting Florence to lead a small party of nurses to Scutari (in fact she had already been planning to go privately) and in less than a week she had left London with 38 nurses. Florence Nightingale as the Lady of the Lamp whose shadow the sick soldiers kissed as she passed through their wards at night has become a legend. But Florence was not just a ministering angel with kind words and a gentle touch. She was a powerful organiser and a strict disciplinarian, working tirelessly, often against considerable opposition, to improve conditions. These had been truly appalling and in the first six months 75% of the deaths had been caused by diseases such as cholera. By the time she returned to England less than two years later she had become a national heroine who was to be summoned to Balmoral by Queen Victoria. Yet she shunned all publicity and had travelled back to England incognito. After only one night in London she had caught the train to Whatstandwell and then walked up to Lea Hurst to join her family. ORDER OF MERIT She shrank from public life and once the immediate excitement was over the general public heard little of her. When, in 1907, she became the first woman to be invested with the Order of Merit many people were surprised to learn that she was still alive, yet until the last few years of her life she had worked ceaselessly. Her experiences in the Crimea had convinced her that health administration in the British Army must be completely reformed and she saw this as her next great mission. She wrote endless letters, produced numerous statistics and plans, and endlessly badgered politicians into bringing about improvements. At the same time she was determined to improve the quality of hospitals and nursing. In 1860 she founded the first Training School for Nurses at St Thomass Hospital in London, using the £45,000 which had been raised when a Nightingale Fund was set up in the last months of the Crimean War. Although most of her life following the Crimea was spent in London, Florence retained her connections with Lea Hurst. In Holloway she set up a reading room and another in nearby Whatstandwell. She provided books there and for Lea Primary School as well as providing the services of a doctor for the village poor. Once a year star pupils of the school were invited to tea at Lea Hurst. In 1880 she organised the setting up of a Penny Bank for the pupils and her will included a small legacy to the school’s Head Master. Upon the death of her father in 1874 she nursed her mother at Lea Hurst until her death in 1880. During this period a typhoid epidemic broke out in Holloway and Florence remained until necessary improvements were made to the water supply and drainage before returning to London. There she lived for another thirty years until her death in 1910. The Life of Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale Timeline 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1820 - Florence Nightingale born in Italy. 1849 - 1850 Travels in Egypt and Europe. Acquires little owl, ‘Athena’. 1825 - Embley Park, Hampshire bought as main residence. Lea Hurst becomes the summer home. 1851 - At Kaiserswerth, in Germany, as a student probationer. 1821 - Family live at Lea Hall, Derbyshire. Work on Lea Hurst begun. 1837 - Florence’s call to serve God. 1853 - Appointed Superintendent of Institution for Care of Sick Gentlewomen in Distressed Circumstances. 1849 - Refuses marriage to Richard Monckton Milnes. 1854 - Crimean War - nurses sick and wounded in appalling conditions. Her work becomes legendary. 1856 - Returns to England. Walks from Whatstandwell to Lea Hurst. 1859 - Publishes ‘Notes on Nursing’. 1860 - Nightingale Training School for Nurses opens at St Thomas’s Hospital. 1865 - Works on hospital and army reforms for the next 30 years. 1874 - Death of her father. 1883 - Awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria. 1880 - Death of her mother. 1907 - Becomes the first woman to receive the Order of Merit. 1910 - Death at South Street, London. Buried at St Margaret’s Church East Wellow, Hampshire. Florence Nightingale Family Tree ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Florence Nightingale Derbyshire Association George Wigglesworth (updated text), Pam Rivers (photos), Andrew Caughey (photos) This Walk Guide draws on information from: Florence Nightingale Trail, written by G and M Wigglesworth and issued by Amber Valley Borough Council. Thomas Nightingale 1666 - 1735 Peter Nightingale 1 1704 - 1763 Peter Nightingale 11 1736 - 1803 Ann Nightingale = George Evans Mary Evans = William Shore Great-Aunt Elizabeth Evans William Edward (Shore) Nightingale 1793 - 1874 = Frances Smith 1788 - 1880 Parthenope Nightingale 1819 - 1890 Florence Nightingale 1820 - 1910 The Florence Nightingale Derbyshire Association supported by: